Im currently in 12th grade and just recieved my first acceptance letter… This made me realize how quickly college is going to come. Im getting really scared of the drastic change that would come from going out of state. What if i dont make any friends and constantly feel homesick? What if im not ready to live without my parents? I mean right now I am home alone alot and am able to do things myself but I just feel like Im still such a baby. I dont know… Im just getting really anxious! Any advice?
Congratulations on your first acceptance! How exciting. You should feel proud of this accomplishement and the first step toward your adult life. It is going to come quickly and you are going to experience the whole range of emotions from joy to fear, and everything in between.
Just like you were probably worried about how you were going to find your way around your middle school and high school, whether or not you would make friends or stay friends with those you had once you moved schools, whether or not you would be able to open your locker on your own, handle the courses etc, and all of those fears of the unknown, you were able to master all of those things and get through the transitions. You will do this again when you go to college, you will work through and learn what you need to learn and eventually handle these things. You may feel homesick on and off, but you can learn to deal with it. You will very likely make friends if you make an effort to. You will learn to manage your schedule, your laundry, your money, etc. And you won’t have to do it alone. There will be other students your age at your school to help you and/or services at your school to help you as long as you ask.
Enjoy the joy of your acceptance for now. Start planning and enjoy that too. Accept that you will have a range of emotions and can handle it. You can do it.
Take a deep breath, be excited that you have an offer of a place from a college that you like and enjoy the rest of your last year of high school! Revel in it, get all sentimental about leaving it / your friends / etc if that’s what you feel. Have a great summer.
And then, when you are packing up and heading out for the start of the school year, take it one day at a time. This, by the way, is the same way that you start your first job, start your marriage and- especially!- start being a parent: one step at a time. EVERYBODY- without exception- feels some amount of worry and wonder about the things you mentioned (and more). Some people feel it a little, some people feel it a lot, but absolutely every single person going off to a big change with a lot of unknowns feels some amount of trepidation. Some hide it really, really well and some get consumed by it. The people who do best seem to be the ones who acknowledge that there is some amount of anxiousness that comes from uncertainty- and then focus on actually doing the thing, not thinking about the thing. Every parent bringing home a first baby, every person walking into their first day on the new job has some amount of that feeling.
And the first thing is: it won’t be February whiterock5 who walks onto that campus- it will be half-a-year older whiterock5! You aren’t ready, because it isn’t time to be ready yet.
The second thing is: there is a process for the transition. Colleges all have some systems for helping new students get settled in. Every fall your college welcomes X number of first year students. Effectively, none of those first years know where the bathrooms are, what notebook system to use, how to use the washing machines in the dorms, or if their roommate is going to be a horror show. The colleges know this and go to a lot of trouble to help students feel at home quickly.
And of course, there is the fear of not having friends. First years typically arrive with few or no friends - and if they do arrive with friends, the majority of them will discover that those friendships change beyond recognition by Thanksgiving break. Take your time making friends: sometimes the first people that you are friendly with don’t turn out to be your close friends. Don’t expect super close relationships the first term- it takes time and shared experiences to forge a strong friendship.
All of this is a (very!) long way around saying: you will be fine. You are right where you should be for now, and most people don’t feel 100% ready for the next step in a big life change until after they have taken that step!
Congratulations 
In addition to all that’s written above, remember: your parents love you and want you to be happy.
If you hate it, they’ll ask you to stick it out for a while.
But if it’s really making you miserable, it doesn’t have to be a 4 year commitment-- you can always come home.
The triplets across the street all left for colleges in September. One of them realized pretty early on that she had made the wrong choice. She’s home, attending a local school (either CC or SUNY, I forget which) and will go away somewhere else in the fall.
So there’s always that as a safety net. The odds are overwhelming that your 1st choice will be the right one. But, if it’s not, you can always come home and rethink your choice.
Being scared is normal but realize that the feeling will go away eventually. Soon enough, being in college will be a normal part of your daily routine.
Human beings are naturally scared whenever attempting something new.
The first human beings to land on the moon were scared as fuck hurling thousands of miles per hour into outer space…
The first time you drove a car was scary was it not?
How about the first time you got really sick, that was a scary experience?
I think the thing to do is to figure out if you have normal nerves, or something a bit above normal. Like previous posters say, right now everything is daunting because you don’t know where you are going to attend yet and everything is unknown. In addition to what other posters say, I would attend the Admitted Students Days at the colleges (esp. where you end up going) so you are more familiar with the campus and may even meet people before you go. Also join the Facebook page for the freshman class of the college you end up choosing…you will get to know some people there too. Like others said, everyone else is going through this too.
However, if your anxiety is a little more than average…
We discovered that my daughter had anxiety when she was in HS…she got evaluated and started medications.
We also made sure to choose a college with a well organized Welcome Week/Freshman Orientation…they had a week of activities before school started and many of them were with the people on their floor. They had community advisors that they could talk to if they had issues. Also she looked for colleges 1-2 hours away so she could come home IF she wanted.
You can also think of ideas to keep in touch with your parents…skyping/facetiming/calling/texting/.
Thanks so much!!!
Really made me feel alot better… I really appreciate it! Thank you!! :x